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B’nai Abraham welcomes classical & down-home musicians
The B’nai Abraham Cultural Center in Virginia announces another event this Saturday, July 13 at 7 p.m. It would not be summer without a much anticipated appearance by the Northern Lights Music Festival players, under the direction of their remarkable Festival founder, Veda Zuponcic. Her musicians come from all over the world, and study for…
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Construction continues at Essar Steel
A source with knowledge of the proceedings of the Itasca County Railroad Authority told me about an update on the construction of Essar Steel near Nashwauk, which was shared at a recent meeting of the authority. Essar has increased their staff to about 100 people, on its way to about 325 permanent personnel to run…
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Fly, bird, fly
This is my Sunday column for the July 7, 2013 Hibbing Daily Tribune. Fly, bird, flyBy Aaron J. Brown No one who lives in the woods lives alone. Sometimes amid the din of family life we forgot that we share our address with thousands of creatures who regard us with the same indifference we usually…
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‘The Bird’ is back in business
An image of the Whistling Bird’s redesigned interior from the restaurant’s Facebook page. Amid the excitement of an Iron Range Fourth of July: the long-awaited re-opening of the Whistling Bird Caribbean restaurant in Gilbert, Minnesota. I spoke of the phoenix-like resurrection of “The Bird” a while back. We look forward to returning to the restaurant…
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The colors of the Iron Range in summer
I took the above photo taking a walk on the Mesabi Trail between Grand Rapids and Coleraine. The reds, greens and blues of this kind of scene are my favorite colors, and you only see them on the Iron Range in summer. Someone sent me this lovely time lapse video of the Hull Rust Mine…
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Northern Lights Music Festival starts today
A scene from ‘Gianni Schicchi,’ the Northern Lights Opera Production in July 2011 Tonight you can catch a gala opening night concert for the Northern Lights Music Festival, a midsummer celebration of opera and classical music in the heart of northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. Tonight’s concert is at 7 p.m. in the Mesabi East auditorium…
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In which I pontificate in the rain on MPR’s Daily Circuit
You can hear me on Minnesota Public Radio’s Daily Circuit this morning at 9:50. (Archived below) Co-host Tom Weber was up on the Range recently and met with me (in the rain) outside Hill Annex Mine State Park to talk about how mining continues to change the footprint of the Iron Range. The chat was…
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A Midsummer’s Range Dream
This is my Sunday column for the June 30, 2013 Hibbing Daily Tribune. Thanks to everyone who attended or listened to last night’s Great Northern Radio Show at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids. Stay tuned for the rebroadcast at 10 a.m. on July 6. A Midsummer’s Range Dream By Aaron J. Brown * With apologies…
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Great Northern Radio Show on the air 5 p.m. Saturday
This is it! The biggest show in the history of my Great Northern Radio Show is on the air Saturday night at 5 p.m. We’re in rehearsals this afternoon and tomorrow before tomorrow night’s big show. “Big” is such a relative term, and we’ve had some fun with this. By big, I mean that we…
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With Reader’s demise, please re-subscribe to MinnesotaBrown.com
On Monday, July 1, Google will shut down its popular Google Reader service, an RSS reader that allowed you to read multiple blog feeds on one screen. This was the primary way that I and many other internet consumers read our favorite blogs every day. For years I’ve encouraged my readers to do the same…
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Great Northern Radio Show: In Theory and more
This week I’ll be talking up the featured guests for Saturday’s Great Northern Radio Show, broadcasting live from the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. MinnesotaBrown readers can still get free tickets by calling 218-327-5780 (seating at 4:30, live on Northern Community Radio at 5). Today, we meet the new Minnesota band In Theory and…
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Mills announces GOP challenge to Nolan in MN-8
Stewart Mills (campaign photo) Stewart Mills III, Republican scion of the Mills Fleet Farm family, announced today he would challenge U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan (D-MN8) in this northern Minnesota congressional seat. MinnPost’s Devin Henry has the story. Mills, 41, lives in the Brainerd lakes area. You can find his campaign website here. Looks like he’s…
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The myth of the universal iPad utopia
My wife and I, both tech-savvy, blog-writing, Apple product fans, have nevertheless had a spirited debate about this Hibbing Daily Tribune story. The Hibbing School Board recently voted on a set of policies related to 700 new iPads purchased for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders in this central Iron Range district. Now, iPads in…
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Great Northern Radio Show: Roe Family Singers
This week I’ll be talking up the featured guests for Saturday’s Great Northern Radio Show, broadcasting live from the Reif Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. MinnesotaBrown readers can still get free tickets by calling 218-327-5780 (seating at 4:30, live on Northern Community Radio at 5). The Roe Family Singers. Today we meet the Roe Family…
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Everclear to headline Merritt Days in Mt. Iron
This week I learned that Everclear, the multi-platinum alt-rock sensation of about 15 years ago, will headline Merritt Days in the Mesabi Iron Range’s “first city” of Mountain Iron. The music event will be Saturday, Aug. 10, with the Shack Shakers at *about* 6:30 p.m. and Everclear at *about* 9:30 p.m. Times are contingent on…